Penglii's 1989 TGP

[Penglii]

OK maybe not... now the instantaneous MPG value in the dashboard reads properly... but the values in the history tables are still coming up all zeros... so the tables are not seeing the data somehow?

[Penglii]

I got it now... turns out the Output (Z) Axis was not set for those two tables.

 

Robert... I think you are secretly trying to trick me into learning my way around tunerpro better.

[RobertISaar]

either that or i keep forgetting to do things like reassociating tables and values with the newly calculated ones.

[Penglii]

So I thought I'd be proactive and order some new ball joints... after my incident with the Sedan I do not want to push my luck.

Ordered some Mevotech ones from RockAuto... recieved them today, and while one of them is perfect... the other ball joint I recieved had been already opened and robbed of the grease fitting and the castle nut! WTF?!!!

 

Discovering that was really not what I needed right after a long shitty day at work... luckily I don't have the time to replace the TGP's ball joints this weekend anyway, or I'd be really pissed. But anyway, who does that?!! Who orders a part, removes whatever they want, and then returns it as though it's complete for some sucker to discover later?! I assume that's what happened here.

[Penglii]

Ok, I feel better now... I just spoke with RockAuto customer service and they are sending me a new ball joint free of charge and they do not need me to return the incomplete one.

That sort of stellar customer service is supremely refreshing.

One more reason to love RockAuto.

[RobertISaar]

rockauto has always had nothing short of top-notch support for me.

 

i used the cheap as hell mevotech ball joints on the MC recently, seem to be pretty decently built, and with 10.9 rated hardware. they're a pain to install, but W-body balljoint: duh.

[Penglii]

i used the cheap as hell mevotech ball joints on the MC recently, seem to be pretty decently built, and with 10.9 rated hardware. they're a pain to install, but W-body balljoint: duh.

 

Cool, I thought I'd heard good things about Mevotech stuff.

I am not looking forward to installing them... any tips on removing the rivets that GM so thoughtfully put there?

 

In more fun news, my Turbo heat shield came in the mail from APT Turbo today.

I got the unpolished version because it was half the price, and I had a suspicion that I would have to modify it to fit into the TGP which would mess up the polish.

 

As suspected, modification was/is necessary.

I had to drill new holes so the shield would clock correctly on the bolt I needed to use.

And since I'm dumb sometimes, I ended up needing to drill several sets of holes before I got one that actually lined things up properly.

I still need to get out the dremel and grind cutouts in a few spots to provide proper clearance for the oil inlet line, the wastegate hinge, and the oxygen sensor.

 

I will take pics tomorrow after I've done all the required grinding.

So far it looks good, and I suspect it will be a big help.

If I have enough time tomororow I intend on finally doing the A/C Condenser fin mod too, and some more datalogging.

[RobertISaar]

as suggested by a few people: angle grinder. drilling through them is a joke. i didn't have an angle grinder at my disposal, so i ended up using cutoff wheels in my dremel along with a chisel to finish the job.

[Penglii]

Yeah, I don't have access to an angle grider either... but I do have a dremel and I can get some of those reinforced cutoff wheels.

I have a chisel too, might even be a useable size for the job... might be too big though.

 

So I guess the idea is grind/chisel the tops off of the rivets, and then punch them out?

Good times...

[RobertISaar]

that's basically what i did....

 

cut the heads off at a shallow an angle as possible, then chisel the rest of the head off, then punch the rivet through. only took ~6 hours in the blazing hot sun.

[Penglii]

only took ~6 hours in the blazing hot sun.

 

Ouch... at least I can use my garage to do mine. I baked in the sun plenty when I did the OFA and the brakes.

I was planning to budget an entire day just to get those rivets out, good to know that's truly a smart move.

[Penglii]

Installed my Stainless Steel Turbo Heat Shield today.

 

Got it from ATP Turbo, and had to modify it to fit the TGP.

Had to drill new bracket mounting holes so that the heat shield would clock correctly. The other side of the bracket attaches to one of the bolts on the turbo's center housing.

I also made cutouts for better/some clearance around the Wastegate Hinge, Oil Inlet, and Oxygen Sensor.

 

My craftsmanship could be better but for a freehand job I'd say I did OK.

I have way too many extra holes in the side from my attempts to position the heat shield correctly, the bracket holes were pre-drilled in the middle and that would not work for this application. After I got it lined up correctly I think it really looks good.

I'm not too worried about the extra holes in the side, if I find they are letting too much heat through I'll plug them up somehow. Also you really have to look to see them, so my mistakes are not a real eyesore or anything.

I did a quick once over with 400-1000-2000 grit sandpaper to clean up the finish a bit, I did a real half assed job with that... but I'd say it looks pretty good.

 

 

 

[Garrett Powered]

the fuel lines may still heat up without some fire sleeve. looks like the shield pushes them away some though.

 

guess you would have to push it pretty hard to get the turbo that hot but its possible to heat soak those lines once the car shuts off.

[Penglii]

Yeah, some fire sleeve for the fuel lines is on the eventual to-do list. I don't think it will be a big issue at the moment anyway, especially going into fall.

 

The heat shield never actually touches the fuel lines, that's just a trick of perspective in the first 2 pics. You can see in the last picture how the shield covers the turbo but not the downpipe. I may want to heat wrap the downpipe eventually too.

[Penglii]

OK, so I want to add AUX IN onto the TGP's 3-Piece Cassette unit.

 

I have found this writeup that discusses doing this to a 1-Piece unit.

http://eurosportvr.com/misc/ipod%20input/index.htm

 

However I don't exactly know how to apply those instructions to the 3-Piece unit that I have.

... here is a wiring diagram for that.

 

I would also like to make it so that I do not need to have a cassette in the player to make the AUX function... unless the particular phono jack used in that writeup accomplishes that somehow?

 

Anyone have any suggestions?

[RobertISaar]

does the radio coaxial input go to radio portion or cassette portion? if it goes to the casette, you can actually do it all externally instead of opening it up.

 

the jack used in the writeup sort of acts like a signal interception device... when you have nothing plugged in, the normal radio/casette audio signals pass through it. but when you plug a cable in, it opens up some of the internal contacts and the signal from the casette/stereo doesn't make it to the amplifier. instead, the signal from the aux cable is substituted in it's place.

 

ingenious little device to get around needing to switch it manually.

[Penglii]

does the radio coaxial input go to radio portion or cassette portion? if it goes to the casette, you can actually do it all externally instead of opening it up.

The antenna? That goes into the "radio" module that is hidden in the dash above the glovebox.

 

 

the jack used in the writeup sort of acts like a signal interception device... when you have nothing plugged in, the normal radio/casette audio signals pass through it. but when you plug a cable in, it opens up some of the internal contacts and the signal from the casette/stereo doesn't make it to the amplifier. instead, the signal from the aux cable is substituted in it's place.

 

ingenious little device to get around needing to switch it manually.

That is quite clever.

[RobertISaar]

too bad, if it went to the casette unit, then the jack could be located pretty much anywhere and you wouldn't need a tape in to have it work. now to do it externally, you would need to make the radio utilize the casette portion.

 

but i imagine you want it to be sticking through the face of the casette unit? i guess that would actually be external to the radio/amp anyways.

 

about the only part of the instructions that would be different for you would possibly be wire locations that you tap into, since i imagine the radio/amp portion might be different. the good news is that if you are decent at following wire traces, since you know the pins where the external audio signal comes in, you can literally just follow those around right to the amplifier transistor(s). somewhere along the way, the circuit for the external audio will probably merge with the circuit for the internal (AM/FM) audio signal(though merge is probably a bad term, more like a portion of the circuit that electrically switches between the two sources), that's where you would need to intercept the signal.

 

 

 

alternatively.... the radio uses a pin dedicated to watching for probably +5, +12V or ground coming from the casette unit to know to switch to that audio source. you could follow that circuit around and see what it does.

 

or you could simply use a toggle switch in combination with the switching audio jack to make the radio use the "casette" audio, which will either be the casette or aux audio, depending on if you have a cable plugged in or not.

 

 

 

you have a few options, with varying degrees of interaction required.

[Penglii]

but i imagine you want it to be sticking through the face of the casette unit?

 

Yeah, I intend on having the phono jack coming through the face of the cassette unit. So I will be opening that up regardless of which specific wiring method I use. I'd prefer not to have to open up the hidden radio/amp module... removing that from the depths of the dashboard does not look fun at all.

 

I'd prefer to have just an auto-detecting jack without the need to manually "give control" to the cassette/aux unit... but I'm not totally opposed to the manual switch approach, especially if it ends up being way easier to do.

 

I found post here on W-body that talks about doing this... but they made things even more complicated by adding USB ports that they can charge devices with. I feel there is probably some very useful and relevant info in this post though:

http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php/46183-Has-anyone-ever-wired-a-3-5mm-headphone-jack-to-their-stock-stereo?p=913528&viewfull=1#post913528

 

Edit: Here is another link with good info. I will have to take a closer look at all this stuff when I am not at work. LOL

http://home.hiwaay.net/~davida1/radio.htm

Edited August 17, 2012 by Penglii

[RobertISaar]

interesting... i imagine concert sound was a regal option based on the size and shape of the units?

 

anyways, a lot of that information could be used, though specific little things that apply only to the 3 piece GP stuff may have to be discovered and accounted for.

 

 

 

to not have to dig out the radio module and attach wiring inside of it, by default, you must do something to either the casette unit or the wiring immediately behind the casette unit, since that's the only other source of audio that the radio module will accept and use for amplification.

 

because of that, you're pretty much stuck with manually switching, since you'll either need to have a tape in and intercept that signal with the jack, or do a non-tape required setup and manually give the radio module the +5, +12 or ground signal it wants to see to use the "casette" audio stream and the jack will do the rest.

[Penglii]

to not have to dig out the radio module and attach wiring inside of it, by default, you must do something to either the casette unit or the wiring immediately behind the casette unit, since that's the only other source of audio that the radio module will accept and use for amplification.

 

because of that, you're pretty much stuck with manually switching, since you'll either need to have a tape in and intercept that signal with the jack, or do a non-tape required setup and manually give the radio module the +5, +12 or ground signal it wants to see to use the "casette" audio stream and the jack will do the rest.

 

This makes sense... I will pull the cassette module and browse all these diagrams and stuff this weekend and see what I can figure out.

[Penglii]

Changed the spark plugs and finally did the condenser fin delete mod for better airflow through the intercooler.

Definitely time for another datalogging joyride after dinner tonight.

 

I have gotten way better at changing the rear 3 spark plugs, but they are still totally a pain in the ass.

Spark plugs all looked pretty good, albiet totally black from running pig rich while getting the tune dialed in.

 

Doing the condenser fin delete was way easy, especially with the coolant bottle relocated and most of the other AC components gone.

I bent the crap out of a few of the condenser tubes, but it does not matter because this car will never have AC again anyway. LOL

[Penglii]

I think I've got this whole AUX IN business figured out.

Found a how to that includes the wiring for the radio/tape swtich... turns out it is super easy.

http://www.earlythirdgen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1039

 

Here is the wiring diagram they provide.

 

So I think I am all set to mod my cassette deck in the very near future.

I imagine it won't be too difficult to figure out how to keep the mod contained inside the cassette housing, just a simple matter of following the wires...

Edited August 22, 2012 by Penglii
Less horrible color scheme...

[Penglii]

Regarding the AUX IN installation...

I plan on using 22 AWG wire (4-conductor shielded wire with a drain, actually) for the phono jack install per the original instructions I found on that.

Will 22 AWG wire also be sufficient for the tape/radio switch?

 

Given the very short distances involved I am inclined to figure 22 gauge would be fine for that too... but since this set of wires is carrying 12V power, should I try and step it up to 18 gauge?

[RobertISaar]

well, it's going to depend....

 

obviously, look at the wiring that you're splicing into for a good idea, but you'll either be splicing into signal wires(22 guage would be fine, they're very low current) or in the case of wire #4 in the diagram that burns my eyes, it might be the actual load circuit, in which case 18 would be a good choice, 20 might be sufficient, but 22 would be an issue.